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New links, ideas, thoughts, or techniques I've tried.
August 13, 2010
I had the pleasure of shooting with fine art and nature photographer Tony Sweet last weekend. He presented a workshop to the Grand Canyon Photography Club on Saturday, and then a small group of us went out to some local spots on Sunday. Tony was incredibly gracious and generous with his time. He made a point to spend time with each of us, answering questions and offering suggestions. I had a great time. A big thank you to Tony for sharing his time and talents. Below are two images from the flower shoot on Sunday. I tried my hand at the "zoom-spin" multiple exposure. If you are familiar with Tony's images, you can see I have a long way to go to master the technique. Practice, practice, practice!
July 31, 2010
Here are two more images processed with Silver Efex Pro. The spoon image I photographed when it was too hot to think about shooting anything outside. Technical date: ISO 100, f/13 at 1/6 of a sec. I was attracted to the backlighting on the clouds in the sky image. Technical data: ISO 100, f/16 at 1/45 sec.
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June 10, 2010
I downloaded the trial version of Nik's Silver Efex Pro recently. I'm enjoying using it to convert some of my images to black and white. There are a number of presets to choose from after which you can manipulate further. I would recommend this program for anyone who is seriously interested in black and white photography. Here are a couple of recent images.
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May 3, 2010
I've visited one of my favorite local areas several times over the past couple of months. Asaph is on state land and provides a photographer with plenty of water and rocks to shoot. Despite my numerous trips there, I always find something new to photograph. It's a peaceful, picturesque area. Technical date: f/16 , 1 sec exposure, ISO 100.
May 1, 2010
I really like this new site/blog I found. Very useful tutorials and inspirational photos.
April 15, 2010
This month the photographic theme for my photography club was Buttons. I had fun borrowing some old looking buttons from my mother and composing them in an interesting way. Since odd numbers usually look pleasing to the eye, I took 5 golden buttons and placed them on a piece of felt with a textured pattern in it. The photograph looked good, but it looked even better when I added the Glowing Edges Filter in Photoshop. The photo was taken with my Tamron 90mm macro lens. Settings: f/8, 1/8sec.
March 11, 2010
I recently had a winter photo shoot with some fellow photographers. We've begun a year-long study of black and white photography. This image was taken at a local area called Hills Creek Lake. Because of the cold weather I was able to walk out on the ice and find this little area. I shot this photo in RAW and converted it in Photoshop using the Infrared Preset of the Black and White Adjustment Layer. I like the way it lightened up the little tree and set it apart from the background trees.
February 26, 2010
My photo club is having Bokeh as a theme for critique so I've been trying my hand at the technique. Again using my Tamron 90mm macro lens, I set an aperture of 2.8 and positioned myself about 4-5 feet from the subject. I put the blue Christmas lights about the same distance behind the subject. The aperture and distance combined to turn them into blue orbs of varying intensity.
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January 31, 2010
It's been too cold to do much outside photography so I've been experimenting with the frost mother nature has so conveniently left on the basement windows. Using my 90mm macro lens I've been able to capture some fun images.
For this photo, I set the white balance to Tungsten in the camera. I like the cool, blue of this one.
One this day, there wasn't any frost so I made my own by spraying the window with water and waiting a few minutes. Notice the snowflake that stuck on the window.
Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a happy, safe, healthy, and photographically satisfying 2010.
December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas!
December 10, 2009
December is a magical time in my hometown. If you looked through my "Wellsboro" gallery, you saw photos of the main street boulevard decorated with Christmas trees and wreaths hung on the gaslights. There's a definite charm and Victorian feel to the town at this time of year, and it's enhanced by our annual "Dickens of a Christmas" celebration. On the first Saturday in December, the main street and several of the side streets are blocked off from traffic. Vendors dressed in Victorian costumes sell their "wares" as carolers and other Dickensian characters roam the streets. You can even find Ebenezer Scrooge if you look!
This year I played with my photos from the event in Photoshop, adding the Poster Edges filter to them. It added an illustrated quality to them that I like. Below is a sampling. Happy Holidays.
November 16, 2009
Here are two more images that received the HDR treatment. I took 5 exposures of each scene and then processed the raw files in Photomatix. I went with a slightly more "surreal" look for the fall road scene, but I like how each photo turned out.
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October 5, 2009
I've started experimenting with HDR in the last month. The two photographs below were each based on 5 exposures processed in Photomatix. I really like the look this kind of processing can give an image. HDR can really enhance skies. You definitely want to use a tripod for these shots. Put your camera on aperture priority and bracket. You can download a trial version of the software for free at www.hdrsoft.com
September 1, 2009
Sometimes it's fun to break the photographic "rules." Normally we're taught to keep the camera steady, but you can create some interesting abstracts by deliberately moving the camera while the shutter is open. The trick is to experiment. Try different shutterspeeds though I would recommend 1/10 sec. and slower. The one below of the daises was taken at f 8.0 at 1/6. I moved the camera in a circular motion, but you can try back and forth, up and down, any combination. See what works best with your particular image.
August 12, 2009
The Tioga County Fair is in full swing. I went looking for a ferris wheel shot at twilight. I lucked out with a gorgeous sky in the background. This shot was taken at f 4.5 at 1/6.
July 4, 2009
I had the opportunity to shoot fireworks. It was a lovely night, and the show was fantastic. I used an aperture of f11, set the camera to bulb, and fired away.
The moon was almost full but wasn't in the frame. I did some Photoshop work and combined two separate images and then changed the blend mode.
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